The present invention generally relates to printing press racking boards and corner angle supports, and more specifically to injection molded, reinforced racking boards and injection molded corner angle supports that are both lighter and exhibit a longer useful life as compared to the prior art.
Those involved in the printing industry often complete high-volume sheet printing with a sheet-fed printing press. During this largely automated process, blank paper sheets individually move along a conveyer belt into the press and inks are stamped onto the sheets. Then, the sheets feed out of the press, reach the end of the conveyer belt, and fall upon a racking board set atop a pallet. Many printed sheets stack up on the racking board as they fall thereupon, and the racking board moves downward relative to the end of the conveyer belt as the sheets stack up.
Because the weight of the sheets and the undried ink cause individual sheets to stick together, only a predetermined number of sheets are allowed to be stacked. Thus, once the predetermined number of sheets are stacked up, spacers are placed adjacent the corners of the loaded racking board, and another racking board is placed atop the spacers so that freshly printed sheets can be stacked thereupon. The spacers bear the load of the new racking board and subsequent paper stack thereupon, and are commonly called “corner angle supports.”
Once a predetermined number of racking boards have been loaded and stacked, a forklift typically moves the multiple loaded racking boards via the pallet. Then, the loaded racking boards are placed outside the printing press so that the sheets can fully dry.
A common prior art racking board measures thirty-two (32) inches wide, forty-five (45) inches long, and three quarter (0.75) inches thick, but their size depends on the size of the printing press. Conventional racking boards are typically made out of flat plywood panels, making them relatively heavy (e.g., 17-27 pounds, depending on the size of the printing press). Also, the boards can be very awkward to manually carry because of their size and weight.
Moreover, the same racking boards are repeatedly loaded, unloaded, stacked, and moved, and during these processes, the boards often collide with other objects or are inadvertently dropped. Thus, the wood often splinters and cracks, especially at the edges and corners of the racking board. The splintered and cracked board can be difficult and hazardous to carry, and over prolonged use render the board useless.
Furthermore, the ink compositions and associated ink solvents used in the printing process typically deteriorate prior art wood racking boards. These chemicals often break down the adhesives holding the plywood laminates together and can deteriorate the wood as well. Over time, as the board deteriorates, the racking board is more likely to swell, splinter, crack, and become unusable.
Improved prior art racking boards include one or two handles. Often, the handle is an aperture forged through the center portion of the board, large enough to allow an average hand to partially fit there through. As such, when moving the board, a worker can fit a hand through the handle and grab the surrounding portion of the board. However, since the handles are in a fixed position on the board, and because there are only one or two handles, there are only a limited number of orientations that the board can be carried in. Thus, the handles do little to ameliorate the awkwardness of carrying the racking board.
Relatedly, when moving the board, a worker often fits one hand through the handle and uses the other hand to grab the edge of the board. However, the hand that grabs the edge of the board can slip along the edge causing the worker to drop and damage the board.
More recently, prior art plywood boards have been provided with molded epoxy rails nailed to the sides to reduce splintering. As such, when the side of the boards strike against another object, the epoxy rails bear the brunt of the collision, and splintering or fracture is less likely to occur. However, the frequent collisions encountered by the racking boards can cause the epoxy rails to crack or fall off, thereby leaving the underlying wood unprotected and allowing for splintering and fracture.
Similar to the racking boards, the corner angle supports are typically made out of wood and include two straight members arranged perpendicularly to each other. Because they are made out of wood, the corner angle supports are relatively heavy and therefore awkward to carry. Also, the same angle supports are used repeatedly and often collide with other objects. Thus, like the racking board, the angle supports often splinter and become hazardous to carry or fracture and become useless prematurely.
Therefore, there is an ongoing need for a lightweight racking board that is generally inert to ink and ink solvents, reduces edge splintering, is easy to carry, and exhibits a longer useful working life. Similarly, there is a need for a corner angle support design that is lightweight and exhibits a longer useful working life.